Farmer against State Committee on Land and Cartography (SCLC)

As a result of land reform in 1996, farmer Nasreddin Karamov from the village of  Gyragly in Saatli region, lost 3.3 hectares of land, which had been part of his family’s in 1959.  The land was divided in the process of privatization.

   The government and local municipal structures have refused to resolve his problem. The local municipality sends him to the State Committee on Land and Cartography (SCLC), which conducted the privatization of state and collective farms. And the SCLC sends him to the Cabinet of Ministers, which sends him back to the SCLC.

    Karamov sued the SCLC, which did not respond to written requests.  The court ordered the SCLC  to respond to Karamov’s request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. Finally, on June 8, instead of replying to Karamov’s request, the SCLC submitted an appeal which argued that they had repeatedly responded to Karamov’s letters.

    The case with Karamov confirms the fears of experts that with the adoption in June of amendments to the Freedom of Information Act, restrictions on access to information will increase.

Karam, like many other citizens who have experienced difficulties in obtaining information from government agencies, now feel that the situation is deteriorating.-0-